


Stray Cat Strut

by paperdollkisses



Category: NSYNC
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-30
Updated: 2014-01-30
Packaged: 2018-01-10 13:10:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1160108
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paperdollkisses/pseuds/paperdollkisses





	Stray Cat Strut

There was nothing in the world like college life. Lance shook his head as he passed people arguing the pro and con of EVERYTHING. He’d actually had some girl come up to him to ask him to sign a petition to save the senseless destruction of ants. ANTS. He was pretty sure she had stepped on some on the grass as she walked over seeing as she wasn’t floating above ground or anything. But he hiked his backpack up more comfortably on his shoulder and walked around her with a mumbled ‘no thanks’. He glanced at his watch and his stride lengthened involuntarily as he realized that he was cutting it close if he wanted a coffee without being late for class. He waited impatiently behind a man with curly brown hair all in black who was waving his hands around. Fingers drumming against the strap on his shoulder absently listening to the conversation going on in front of him.

“But that’s what I’m saying, cat. I mean what’s to keep me from say using a drum kit instead of a bongo, or say finger cymbals or a flute or a recorder or hell, a harmonica.” the man was saying. His voice lilting and passionate.

Lance had to smile. Who the hell used the word ‘cat’ anymore to address people?

The other guy made a wide sweeping gesture before he grabbed his coffee. “C, you’re preaching to the choir here. But I really think you’d have a hard time getting your words out to the people if your lips were wrapped around a mouth organ.” he chuckled. “Although I’m sure you inspire people with your mouth wrapped around organs.”

Lance looked up at that, eyebrow raised. He saw the smirk on the speakers face and fell. Hard.

C sighed and shook his head. Then laughed. “Chris, man. You and your one track mind are insanely horny all the time. You seriously need to get laid.” he grabbed his cup from the counter and moved out of the line.

“Yeah, you offering Walt Whitman?”

The banter continued as they walked away. Lance watched them go. Only turning back to the cashier when he was tapped on the shoulder. Smiling apologetically he ordered his coffee and barely made it to class before the door was closed. The next forty minutes were filled with business law at its most boring before they were threatened with a quiz for the next day.

Over the next few days Lance found himself looking around more. Not willing to admit that he may be looking for the man referred to as ‘Chris’, but his heart jumped a little anytime he saw a dark haired man with a goatee. A smile curved one side of his mouth as he remembered the beard horns. Strangely appealing actually. Which in itself was odd, since his boyfriend resume consisted of clean shaven blondes. Still, there was something about him. Maybe it was the easy way he’d sparred with his friend C, he had a thing for that. Lance just shook his head at his obvious crush on the guy. Go away to school and start crushing on weird little guys who hadn’t been laid in a while. Not that the thought of that made it any better, and he made himself stop looking, even if he did continue to go out of his way to the coffee cart every other day. He was standing in line about a week and a half later when he heard a familiar voice behind him.  
“Hey cat, thought you weren’t going to make it.”

It was all Lance could do not to turn around to look.

“Yeah well, if you’d have told me that you would have been here before me I’d have had to call the president and have him declare a state of national emergency.”

Lance took a deep breath. That was the voice he’d been waiting to hear. He slowly turned his head to look. C and Chris stood a couple of people back. Lance took his coffee and moved to a table near enough to hear and watch unobtrusively. Chris was wearing a white tee shirt that clung nicely to his arms, a black vest over that and black jeans that were snug over... Ok, he wasn’t going there. His sat up a little straighter and took a quick sip of his coffee. It was bad enough that he had actually sat down to watch.

“... we’ll be at Beat’s around 6. You gonna join us?”

He had really just missed most of the conversation anyway. They were getting their coffees and would be leaving for wherever it was they went after this.

“If I don’t get a better offer. I’m working until 6 though. I’ll be there around 7.” Chris blew into the little hole at the top of the cup, took a sip and grimaced. “Holly, I use the entire bag of sugar in each cup, not a measly teaspoon.” he handed it back.

“Sorry Chris.” the girl behind the counter added more sugar and handed it back.

Chris took another careful sip and smiled. “Better.” he winked at her and she blushed and giggled before helping out the next customer.

“Design class was mercifully cancelled today. So I can go work on my new set.” C continued as if the interruption had never happened.

Chris looked around the courtyard for an empty table. Eyes catching momentarily on the blonde that seemed to be watching them. But dismissing it when he casually looked away. “Damn, I wanted to chill with my café con leche.” then to C “Aren’t you supposed to be working on the ‘BIG ARCHITECTURAL MASTERPIECE’?” he used finger quotes and echoed the end of masterpiece.

“Don’t you know I’ve gotta feed my soul before I can create a building? It’s in the karmic code of ethics.” C smiled at him and pointed to the table that Lance was vacating. “There man, let us go chill with your café con leche.” he intoned the last in a badly accented slur of words.

Lance moved quickly away from the table the man pointed to. He had been caught staring at Chris and that was bad enough. Long strides carried him from the quad towards the building on the far side of it. Ignoring the memory of those dark eyes focused on his for a mere second. His thoughts wandered during class. Snatches of the conversation coming back to him. He didn’t want to admit to himself that he was going to be at Beats between six and seven o’clock. Primarily because he knew it was a poetry club. Lance had never had much interest in the Bohemian/ Beatnik scene. His interest in poetry and expression and art was strong. But the stereotype that had become associated with such people left a foul taste in his mouth. He considered himself an educated and well rounded man, much more inclined to read stuff by the originals of the so called ‘beat’ generation. Kerouac, Ferlinghetti, even Vollmer- Burroughs. But their stuff was about taking chances and not allowing what society thought to slow them down. About freeing their minds of social burden and being creative without boundaries. That was inspiring. Even to a business major.

The sub culture that had risen from that had been... well it had been frightening actually. Some of the views expressed were pure plagiarism, while others bordered on absurd. But since it was all in the mind of the beholder he couldn’t really say anything bad about them. Just avoid things that made his eyes roll. It was the movement of the class towards the door that snapped him out of his reverie. He shook his head, a wry twist to his lips as he realized he’d pretty much daydreamed his class away. Not that it was going to hurt him in any way. He already had a firm grasp of most of the concepts. He slid his notebook back in his book bag and left the room to go to his next class.

By the time he’d finished classes, made the photocopies of his research material and returned to his dorm room it was closer to six than he would have liked. A quick shower later he was pulling on jeans and a red tee shirt before running gel through his hair. The damp strands in the disarray his fingers left them. He slid his feet into his sneakers before stuffing his wallet into his back pocket and left the dorm building. He took his time walking to the club. Enjoying the coolness of the end of the day. He glanced at his watch as he approached the building that housed the café. Stalling a little by window browsing the book store that was next to it he finally shook his head at his reflection in the glass and walked towards the glass and metal door that was the entryway to the café.

It didn’t take much for his eyes to adjust from the fading light outside to the dim interior inside. He looked around curiously. It was larger than he had been thinking it would be. Not as dark and foreboding, or something. The room was wide open, bright colored prints on the walls reflected by the candle sconces on the walls and tables. Comfortable stuffed chairs surrounded tables littered with white mugs and plates. The stage was against the far wall, microphones lines up like pool cues in a bar. Drum kit, bongos and a keyboard set up across one side while a bar stool-esque chair or two sat empty on one side. Doors to the kitchen swung open and wait staff in black carried various beverages and food items to the tables.

A quick glance around the half full room showed him that Chris wasn’t here yet, but he did see C and moved unconsciously over to the table next to him. Almost before he was seated his order for a mocha cappuccino was taken and he was handed a menu. He glanced through it quickly deciding on a croissant and blueberry scone which he ordered once his coffee was delivered. There was a flurry of movement near the stage and someone started setting up for a ‘reading’.

“Excuse me, are you going to be using all of these chairs?”

Lance looked away from the man fumbling with the mic stand and straight at the man he’d been looking for. Well one of them. The man really was stunning up close Lance thought. “Um, no... I’m alone. Here alone I mean. Take. Please.” He wasn’t quite sure what had happened to his sentence structure. Suddenly it really sucked.

C grinned. “Thanks cat.” he pulled a chair over to the other table, seemingly oblivious to the grammatical errors.

Lance just nodded, not willing to make a fool of himself again. He found his gaze drifting to the door frequently as he listened to the first few people go up on stage and recite their original works. Relaxing back in the chair he could actually say that he wasn’t too turned off by the concept any more. But then again, there hadn’t been any cheesy talent up yet. There were a few announcements by the owner and local talent organizer about events around the campus. C was apparently ‘JC Chasez’ and he was pretty active in the campus arts. Heading a couple of rally’s for ‘Spreading the Art’s’ the local galleries gave college students a chance to show off their work and make some money. The ‘Read to Me’ chapter for poetry and short written works, as well as “Music for the Masses”. Lance was impressed.

There was a lull in the presentation after that. Not too long. But long enough for Chris to walk in and make Lance forget all about his friend and his accomplishments. The tee shirt and vest had been replaced with a yellow hoodie. It was a good color on him. He was greeted enthusiastically by everyone at the other table, calling them back as he turned to look for a chair. Lance cursed himself then. For looking like a lonely loser at his table when the rest of the place was crowded with people all talking excitedly to each other.

“Hey, you waiting for someone?”

Lance opened his mouth, the thoughts that ran through his mind held back only by an extreme force of will. He barely managed to shake his head no. JC looked over Chris’ shoulder.

“He told me he’s here alone.” JC grinned at Lance. “You should join us man, we’re one big happy family.”

“We put the fun in dysfunctional even.” Chris chuckled.

“Well Chris is weird. But the rest of us are pretty cool. I’m JC.” he put a hand out around Chris.

Lance couldn’t quite believe it was this easy actually. To be drawn into the group. Not that it had been his primary goal of course. He had come here tonight to gaze from afar, to get the lay of the land. No pun intended. He held out his hand. “I’m Lance.”

“Good to meet you Lance.” Chris took his hand after JC let go. “I’m Chris, come on over and join us. It’s more fun here when you have someone to heckle the talent with.”

Lance smiled, accepting the offer before the words left his mouth. The tables were moved together and chairs spread to accommodate the added room. Introductions were made, enough new people to guarantee there would be no remembering any of them. But when Chris sat at his side there was really no need to think of anything else. While Lance was busy ordering a new drink from the waitress Chris took in his profile.

Chris had always been a neck man and that neck was surely beckoning his mouth to come hither. With a small quirk of his eyebrow he looked over at JC, cutting his eyes a little in Lance’s direction. JC bit his lip to hide the grin that threatened to open wide and become a laugh. He settled on nodding his head a little at Chris, smiling when Chris returned it with a self satisfied smirk.

Chris leaned over as Lance sat back in his chair. “I haven’t seen you around here before. You a newbie to the ways of the living poets society?”

There really shouldn’t have been anything intimate in that exchange. Just a guy making conversation. But something, well it was there. “I’m new to the college. I don’t usually hang around the artsy crowd.”

Chris snorted, “That’s one way to describe them,” he waved a hand around. “They’re projecting tortured types really. Whiny about how wronged they are and how they are so misunderstood. It’s kind of like walking through the PC quad, yet in iambic pentameter.” He nodded his head over to the corner where there were several people dressed in stoic black. Mumbling amongst themselves about whatever they were finding important in the moment. “Those guys all write and talk about death and the inevitability of it, because of the end result there should be nothing in between except preparation for the end.” he snorted again. “I say party for today, because death surely is coming and I don’t wanna regret how I got there.”

Lance laughed. The sound a low rumble. Eyes twinkling. “They do seem to be a bit full of themselves, and awfully serious about it.”

“We only come to see C anyway. Well, and a few of the guys here will get up and say a few syllables too. But that’s about it. C isn’t happy unless he can express himself. And he does it a damn sight better than probably three quarters of the worlds population.” Chris shrugged and indicated the room with his hand again. “In these days of health consciousness and political correctness- the smoky room comes from dried ice rather than cancer sticks. Everyone is drinking double shot decaffeinated espressos and low fat low carb cappuccinos. There’s too much bad in the world for people to preach about rather than express themselves through words.” he shrugged “Not that it’s a bad thing” eyeing Lance’s empty cup. “But it’s not as hip as it used to be. It’s more work.”

He had to nod at that concept, “So, you don’t get up there and ‘express yourself’?” Lance even used the finger quotes.

“Only if I can plug my electric guitar in and get down with my bad self.” he smiled, hand unconsciously shaping one of the beard horns.

“Let me guess.” Lance nodded to the waitress who put his coffee down in front of him. “You’re a classic rock kind of guy.” He was leaning towards Chris to hear over the racket on the stage.

Chris nodded, “Oh yeah, with overtures of punk and when I’m in the mood country.”

It was Lance’s turn to snort then. “Please, please... don’t tell me you play the steel guitar?”

“Sadly, I’ve never tried it. But I’ve also never met anything with strings I can’t tame.” he sat up and affected a superior attitude. “I am the master.”

The thoughts that flowed through Lance’s brain cells at that. Well he was glad the lights were low enough that Chris probably couldn’t see the redness spreading over his cheeks. It actually took him a minute to be able to form a sentence. “So, you come here often?” yeah, line... lovely.

Chris was caught a little off guard by the quick change in subject but a mental shrug later and he was steam rolling in the conversation again. “Not too often, C only comes here a couple of nights a week. Even he gets tired of the negativity.” he sighed dramatically. “I don’t even think he’s going to perform tonight. See that pretty little thing he’s talking to?”

Lance looked over and saw JC bent over whispering in an ear. One attached to a very well shaped head, with blonde curls and a shy smile. He nodded at Chris.

“That’s his newest... protege.” One corner of Chris’ mouth went up. “Has absolutely no talent... literarily that is. His forte seems to be physical expression.”

Chris watched Lance’s expression carefully. It was always a bit tricky when people found out that someone in their midst was gay. It was really only a matter of time before JC was hanging all over Justin, and Chris had found it was easier to let them ease into the idea rather than turn around and find JC with a lap full of boy. It also was a subtle way of feeling them out for him as well. Not that he was planning on outing himself to a stranger just yet. He wasn’t nearly as comfortable with PDA as JC, and he didn’t currently have anyone to PDA anyway. Still, it was nice to know where someone like Lance stood on the whole gay issue anyway. Especially since Chris was having a difficult time trying not to stare into those weirdly compelling eyes. And, he really wanted to know if JC was right with his nod earlier. Chris could never tell these things despite a long and sometimes sordid history with men. That was probably why he was currently single. Wrong type and all that jazz. Lost in his thoughts he missed the response. That deep voice rolling around his thoughts and not disrupting them.

“Hmm?” he looked at Lance with a sheepish little grin. “I’m a little deaf in this ear.”

Lance shook his head, wondering what had had his new friend so preoccupied. But to humor him he leaned forward and purposefully spoke a little louder. His mouth next to Chris’ ear. “I said, I can tell those lips would speak loud and clear to some people.” his hot breath tickled Chris’ ear, causing the skin to goose bump on his arms.

Chris opened his mouth to say something, then closed it again. No words whatsoever coming to his mind. No witty comeback, no risque proposition. Just the echo of that voice bouncing in his skull, and the what those words could mean, could be construed as. So he did what any self respecting lustful man would do in that situation and shook his head vigorously yes. Then realized what he was doing and shook his head no. Then stopped. “I’m a bit confused right now.” he looked at Lance, seeing the small tilt of the corners of his mouth. “Or maybe, caffeine deprived. Yeah, that’s it.” he raised his hand for the waitress.

By the time the waitress took his order the moment had passed and JC’s protege ‘Justin’ had approached the stage. Lance had a difficult time concentrating on the younger man though. Chris was tapping his fingers on the chair next to his arm. Very close to tapping on his arm. The energy in him just kind of flowed around.

“Still confused?” he tilted his head a little, so only Chris could hear him.

“That depends on what you think I was confused about in the first place.” came the fast reply. The dancing fingers brushed against his wrist.

Lance’s skin tingled from the touch. “You had no trouble outing your friend over there, but you didn’t specify for yourself.” he couldn’t have been reading him wrong all this time.

“I’m attracted to you.” Chris’ hand stopped moving suddenly. “Yeah, the brain... not as quick as the mouth over here.” he shook his head. “There you have it.” the rhythm was back now.

“I’d like to just clarify for the record that I’m attracted to you too.” Lance ran a finger over Chris’ hand.

Chris let out the breath he didn’t know he was holding. “How could you not be?” the eyebrow quirked at Lance.

The deep rumble of Lance’s chuckle made him smile. Finally, someone who could keep up with him and keep him on his toes. The thought of exploring all the possibilities was a very pleasant one. Just as pleasant as that arm laying next to his. Yes, indeed. Whatever happened it was going to be an exciting ride.


End file.
